The Breaking Point
by xXKanpekiXx
Summary: Gillian comes home to a half empty bottle of scotch and a crumbling marriage. Cal/Gillian


This is my second fiction for Lie to Me. It's definately not as good as my first, which worries me, but I'm trying, I guess. I will most likely revisit this to revamp it and make it not stink so much. I just hope that you will bear with me for the time and try to drag out as much enjoyment from it as you can.

Any suggestions? Should I keep going?

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Gillian Foster shook her head gently, dispelling the lingering drops of rain from her auburn hair as she took her first steps back into the house. She ran an idle hand through her soft, curly damp locks and decided that she'd made the right decision that morning by foregoing the tedious chore of straightening her hair.

Further ahead, in the adjacent study, she saw the dim mist of a light, signifying the presence of her husband. Gillian felt gingerly around across the surface of the wall until her fingers struck plastic and she flipped the switch, bathing the hallway in a hazy glow before moving toward the study.

'Must have had a hard day at work,' Gillian reasoned, 'maybe I should check in on him.'

Alec Foster only plagued the study during midnight hours when he was drinking away the stresses of his job. Leaning against the doorway, Gillian came to a familiar sight: her husband sprawled lifelessly across a plush leather armchair, glasses placed carefully on a nearby table, and a large bottle of scotch clutched in one of his hands. It was around one in the morning, so he would be just passed buzzed, by Gillian's calculations. Still conscious, Alec caught sight of his wife slowly approaching him. She ended up settling half of her weight on one of the leather arms. He groaned lightly while she began to rub his temples.

She truly was a comfort, whether Alec admitted it often enough or not. Working her two forefingers in uniform, delicate circles, Gillian traced a pattern across her husband's sore forehead.

"Tough day?" She whispered, making sure to avoid any harsh sounds as she teased his hair back and easing the scotch bottle from his outstretched hand. She filled a glass and brought it back to him.

Gillian was not all-for this sort of heavy drinking, but she'd rather he tell his troubles to a bottle of alcohol than a line of cocaine.

He nodded, confirming her suspicions that he'd been tossed around a work, and he took her hand in his, letting her natural warmth radiate throughout his slightly drunken stupor.

"Where were you?" Alec murmured, still grasping at Gillian's silky hand. She sighed, then reminded of her own occupation-related anxiety.

"I stayed late at the office, The Department of Justice dumped a high-profile case on Cal during one of his other 'heavy-lifting' investigations. You know him; he wouldn't pass off either one," a hint of a smile flirted with her face, flickering past just quickly enough to be missed by her husband. Alec stared blankly at his wife as she continued. "He loses enough sleep as it is, but I can rest easy for now. Cal promised me that he'd get at least 8 hours. I only hope I'm able to do the same. If you're ok down here, I think I'll turn in for the night."

Gillian turned to move up the steps, eager, in a predominantly tired way, to be rid of her 4-inch spikes and restrictive pencil skirt. At that point, she wanted nothing more than to shimmy out of her feathered blouse and hop into a comfy set of flannel pajamas.

That would have to wait, though, as Alec's voice stopped Gillian in her weary tracks.

"How long did Lightman keep you working?" Gillian wandered silently back, sauntering back into the study with a sort of lazy dependence on the wall as she slid by.

"Well, he called me in just after lunch, around 1:30, oh no, 2 more like it. We worked until just a bit after midnight. Wow, that's a lot. It never fails to astonish me how fast time flies when I work that hard. No wonder I'm so tired." She gave a sort of exhausted laugh at this, then turning to analyze whether or not her husband had let go of the subject and allowed her to mosey on upstairs and hit the hay.

He hadn't.

"Who were you working with?" This line of questioning was starting to sound like an inquisition, or something more sinister. The inquiries were made in a monotonous drone, which made any analysis difficult. Though she usually avoided reading her husband's face for lies, which he told her upsettingly often, but she was desperate to tell him exactly what he wanted to hear so she could go to sleep.

Unfortunately for Gillian Foster, her husband became significantly more perceptive while he was drunk, and she was never a competent liar to begin with.

That was just one more reason she wasn't pleased with her husband and his substance abuse.

"Cal and I recruited Torres and Loker, but they abandoned ship about 3 hours in." Alec's face slurred into a frown and his eyebrows furrowed.

"So it was just you and Cal?"

"For the most part, yeah. We got a lot of work done for just two people though." Alec wasn't pacified.

"So you were alone with him for seven and a half hours? Isn't that a little…inappropriate, to go so late?"

Gillian could see this conversation taking a nasty little turn which frustrated her into snapping.

"I've known Cal for years! Nothing inappropriate happened! Oh, Alec, please, talk to me when you're sober, alright? I just want to go to bed." The angry mad tugged at her hand and forced her to remain right where she was.

"But something could have happened. How do I know?"

"How about you trust me on this one?" Alec scowled once more.

"How can I trust you? I wasn't there. I don't know!" He began raising his voice, a furious look slowly creeping across his features.

"Why don't you trust me? I trust you! All those times you've lied to me about work and your sponsor…I detect lies for a living, of course I know! I've overlooked them! Do you know why?"

"How should that matter? You could have been doing anything! You've always been too close to that Lightman character!" He was screaming now, alcohol wafting through the room on his rotten breath. Gillian retorted with an increasingly ticked sneer.

"You've known Cal for a long time too! You trust him, or at least, I thought you did."

"How can I rely on him when he could very well be fucking my wife behind my back?!"

"What? Oh my God! Where the hell is this coming from? Look, just talk to me tomorrow when you aren't soaked in scotch." Gillian was flustered now, her fatigue a vague, unimportant memory.

"So you're just going to avoid the subject?" Alec was now advancing from his pool of lethargy, standing very close to his wife, making his rage apparent.

"You're drunk. This conversation won't go anywhere until you're sober. Please, we can talk about this tomorrow. We're both tired. I'm sorry I got angry, but I'd like to work this out when I'm not about to fall off my 4-inch heels." Alec wasn't appeased; he pulled on her arm, catapulting her back into him.

"We are NOT done, Gillian! You're avoiding the subject. Are you or are you not having an affair with Cal Lightman?" She glared at Alec, sick and tired of all this.

"To answer your question, no, my relationship with Cal is completely platonic. However, I'd like to point out that many disloyal spouses accuse their partner of cheating. I will not pursue the topic because, as I've said before, I trust you."

Her husband waned under her intense stare; he was not accustomed to any signs of aggression coming from her.

"I don't know why you do, but…I don't know that you should…" Alec mumbled, trailing off as he suddenly became fascinated with the scotch swirling in the bottom of his glass. He had apparently wanted to tell Gillian deep down, letting such a thing slip out of him while under the influence, but he instantly regretted what he'd said. Her face kept its shocked appearance as the first tears began to fall.

"You…you've been cheating?" Alec slid his face down, determined not to look at his wife. "So all those times I let you go meet with your sponsor…oh my God. Alec! How could you do this to me?!" Gillian was beside herself. She partially blamed her reaction on the late hour, but she was still outraged that Alec had been unfaithful.

"I thought you…you might have been having an affair with Cal. I thought…it was ok?" Gillian's gentle face then scrunched up with rage.

"How could that EVER be ok? I have been the picture of fidelity for you! I supported you with your addiction and this, THIS is how you repay me? I have half a mind to leave you right now!" The poor red faced woman hardly knew what she was saying anymore, but driven by betrayal and hurt, she continued on until her husband threw the scotch glass down.

"Yes, I made a mistake. I cheated. We know that, but you…"

"I WHAT?"

"YOU ARE JUST AS MUCH TO BLAME AS I AM!" Gillian was stunned and appalled.

"There is no reason that I'm at fault here! I've made it perfectly clear time and time again that there was nothing between Cal and I. I also trusted you to not cheat! What could I possibly have done to make this happen?" She slumped to her knees, speaking through her fingers, drained from the shouting, exasperated by the crumbling of her marriage.

"You could have kept me from temptation! You could have…you could have…"

"I don't know that I can take this right now."

"I don't know that our marriage can take this right now either."

"Are you…are we…I don't want to end it like this. It's just not right. We owe it to each other to try and move past this! Sure, I'm furious that you've ch-cheated," she seemed to have difficulty pronouncing the word, "but we can make it through. I won't allow our happy marriage to fall so easily." Gillian tried to reach out to her husband, trying to stroke his arm in a gesture to make up.

"Our happy marriage? What else can we do? We'll never get alone while you've lost your trust in me."

"But…Alec…I don't" She sighed, reveling in her loss and taking in the end of her marriage. She was so tired, too unprepared for this.

"I…We'll call a lawyer first thing tomorrow." Alec said, turning around to pick up the shattered glass littering the carpet.

Gillian stood up and bolted from the room, running out to her car and driving off into the night before Alec had the chance to protest.

* * *

Oh my God the ending was so bad! I'm going to work on the next chapter soon, hopefully making it much better than the first.


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